Boia Gigs

Steve is a keen musician and has been fortunate enough to tour around the UK, US and Europe. He now concentrates on promoting Gigs locally and through his contacts made during his time within the music industry, can bring international touring acts to St Davids. All the gigs are held in local venues within St. Davids, from intimate acoustic performances to raucous bluegrass and full band shows.

Summer City Groove

Put on your dancing shoes and groove on down to the funkiest sounds around.

Join us for St Davids only Funk/Soul/Groove/Boogaloo night, with live music from the grooving Dan Messore Organ Trio, Cardiff based DJ and vinyl junkie 48 Litres of Funk and the eclectic and pigeon holeless Steve² Shapeless Disco!

Dan Messore is a broad minded and eclectic musician. After travelling extensively and settling in Central America for several years, he returned to the UK and completed a MA in jazz and composition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. He has since gone on to be a much in demand musician and spanning scenes and genres.

48 Litres of Funk stems from an obsession with digging for records and the never ending exploration of music that a vinyl junkie’s addiction takes us on.From the charity shops and car boots of Cardiff to Moscow markets and hidden corners of Rio, the journey is never ending. Expect Funk & Soul floor fillers, Disco Boppers and some classic hip hop belters for good measure.

Steve² Shapeless Disco will take you on a journey from lost Jazz groove gems, Northern Soul classics to Boogaloo bouncers.

Joey Landreth

Joey Landreth brings his band to the RAFA for an exclusive Wales date on his 2018 Forgiveness Tour!

Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, Joey Landreth has grown up with a guitar in his hands. Working as a side man through his teens and early twenties Joey grew up on the road, playing music across genres from gospel to country. At twenty-five Joey joined forces with his older brother as they worked on their first independent project The Bros. Landreth. The band was immediately successful, winning a Juno with their first album, among other awards across multiple genres. The band rose quickly to success turning the heads of musical heavy-weights such as Bonnie Raitt, John Oates and Jimmie Vaughan. In 2016 Joey launched his solo career. With the rare ability to be at once vulnerable and open yet seriously blow audiences away with his musical proficiency, Joey’s career as an independent artist is expected to rise to great heights quickly.

John Blek

+ Support from Jodie Marie

ROOTS @ The RAFA – Friday 14th September 2018, 8pm
£10 Adv £12 Door

Ireland-based songwriter John Blek from Cork, is best known for his work with his band John Blek & the Rats, John has begun a new journey influenced by the folk music of Ireland, Britain and the US. With his solo work, he delves into the world of fingerstyle guitar and reveals the deeply personal and poignant lyrical aspects of his character.

John Blek – “I spent much of the early part of 2017 in and out of hospital with some mysterious illness that was intent on wasting my now 30-year-old body. My energy was at an all time low and all that gave me joy had been stripped or put on hold. All but my guitar and what was left of my feeble voice. So to fill the days and occupy my mind, I wrote.

I wrote of resilience, of pain and uncertainty. Of new love through fevered dreams, of strength, hope, distance, sedation and the cure.

I did it every day and recorded the demos sitting up in my hospital bed accompanied by the electronic bleeps of the machines and punctuated by the nurse’s concerned enquiries.

I had a reason. For me this is cathartic. For me, this was the panacea.”

Catharsis Vol.1 is his third solo album.

Jodie Marie

Finding your way takes a little living. Plucked from obscurity at 16, and writing and recording with some of the greats of modern songwriting (Bernard Butler, Ed Harcourt, Jimmy Hogarth) on debut album ‘Mountain Echo’ showcased a unique voice to the world.

Tours, TV appearances and radio plays followed, but when the dust settled, Jodie Marie took a step forwards – electing to write the bulk of her new album in isolation, in her home of Wales, and in a provincial cottage in France. She lived a little. Looked inside herself, and reflected this in the brilliant new collection of songs ‘Trouble in Mind’.

Nathan Bell

Friday 12th October, 2018

Sometimes a solo artist can knock your socks off and Nathan Bell is one of these. With a voice and songs sitting alongside the likes of Townes, Guy Clark, John Prine etc.. Really!! – this guy’s songs and voice hit you with a clarity not often encountered. Sharp edged songs, a voice of gravel and grit and whiskey and some rather accomplished guitar playing makes this guy pretty special.”

Based out of Chattanooga, TN, Nathan is also an educator and writer, teaching guitar and songwriting to students of all ages, and contributing regularly to Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

His music has been reviewed or featured in Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Telegraph (UK), No Depression Magazine, and in most of the influential on line music blogs. he has appeared on many NPR programs including, The Real Economy Project with Alex Chadwick, Live from Studio One, and Songs at The Center.

Nathan has won several awards for his soundtrack work, including best music at the Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival.

We’ll leave you with this quote from a recent show.

“Nathan Bell killed it at The Ark – Ann Arbor Saturday night. One of the best damn songwriters ever.”

The Slocan Ramblers

Saturday 3rd November, 2018

The Slocan Ramblers are Canada’s young bluegrass band to watch. Rooted in the tradition, fearlessly creative, and possessing a bold, dynamic sound, The Slocans (2015 Edmonton Folk Fest Emerging Artist Award recipients), have quickly become a leading light of Canada’s roots music scene, built on their reputation for energetic live shows, impeccable musicianship and their uncanny ability to convert anyone within earshot into a lifelong fan.
The Slocan Ramblers blend lightning fast and devilishly intricate instrumentals with the sawdust-thick vocals of singer Frank Evans, who takes lead on songs ranging from rowdy old-time numbers like “Groundhog,” to a Dustbowl classic like Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty.” “Toronto audiences don’t respond to a clean, polished Nashville sound,” tune composer and mandolinist Adrian Gross explains. “They dig a lot of energy in their music, a rowdy bar vibe. They’re hard to win over.” But The Slocan Ramblers have won them over, moving from a young ensemble of bluegrass pickers to one of the best known Canadian roots bands. They’ve done this by staying true to the roots of the music, not seeking to revive anything but rather to tap the rough and rowdy heart of the music.